A Lutheran congregation is grappling with how to deal with a convicted sex offender who says his church attendance is an important step toward rehabilitation. Clergy and members at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd say they're in a quandary over how to protect their children while following in Christ's footsteps and welcoming a stranger. "Clearly, we are called to love," said the Rev. Rebecca Schlatter, associate pastor. "But is it safe to love this particular person up close?" The church has offered a covenant of 17 conditions to Calvin Brugge, who says he will sign it. Among other restrictions, he can only attend the 7:30 a.m. Sunday service, and he's barred from using the restroom or attending church-sponsored functions that include children. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Only $1 billion of the $77 billion the city is seeking from the Army Corps of Engineers is for infrastructure damages it says it suffered because of levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina. The rest is for such things as the city's tarnished image and tourist industry losses. The city "looked at everything and just kind of piled it on," Mayor Ray Nagin said."We got some advice from some attorneys to be aggressive with the number, and we'll see what happens," he said. New Orleans has joined big business and thousands of homeowners in filing claims seeking compensation from the corps for damages sustained when the levees broke during the 2005 storm, flooding 80 percent of the city. The claims allege poor design and negligence by the corps led to the failure of flood walls and levees....http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/03/katrina.claim.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

Major powers failed on Saturday to settle all their differences over a second U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran for its nuclear work but remain committed to passing one soon, the United States said."There is still some work to be done on a few outstanding issues, but all parties remain committed to a second resolution in the near future," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in a statement issued after the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany held a conference call to discuss a new U.N. Security Council resolution against Iran. The United States and leading European countries suspect Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic program. Tehran denies the charge and says its program is for generating electricity....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2921732

Wiping beads of sweat from his forehead, Mr Aziz stubs out a grubby cheroot on his counter and unwraps a glossy paan leaf the size of his palm. Holding it to his pockmarked face he inhales the aromatic betel nut paste inside. 'I sell these as a stimulant to the local nightshift workers,' he says. 'I use them to escape the smell of this place.' Around his tiny stall the unmistakable stench of ammonia and sewage hangs heavy over Apna Street, a packed industrial lane that dissects Mumbai's labyrinthine Dharavi slum. The paan vendor looks out towards the Arabian Sea, as if wishing an ocean breeze would somehow blow the foul air west, out over Asia's largest shantytown towards the desolate salt-pans and low-lying marshes encircling India's most chaotic city. A 175-hectare maze of impenetrable dark alleys and corrugated shacks, Dharavi swarms with more than a million residents. There is only one easy way into its true heart, according to local folklore - you ...http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2026024,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Ahmad Hamad al-Tammimi used to live in the village of Quba. Before Iraq descended into sectarian war it was home to around 700 families. The vast majority were Sunnis. Tammimi, spiritual head of Diyala province's Shias and a follower of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most important religious leader, was the imam at the local mosque. He farmed groves of date palms and oranges close to the Diyala river. That was then. He has not seen his house, his farm or old mosque for close to two years. 'I get my information from a moderate Sunni family that lives in Quba,' he said. 'There is another family in my house. A Sunni family. Other people have taken over my groves. People from outside the village. Now I hear they have allowed my plants to dry up and wither.' The Shias have left Quba, pushed out of their homes over two years of gradual, deadly ethnic cleansing that is now almost complete. Sectarian deaths are decreasing because there are few people left available to kill. ...http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2026079,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

In a political landscape populated by Bushes, Kennedys and Clintons, the children and kinfolk of longtime U.S. politicians do indeed have a better shot at winning elective office, but not necessarily at holding on or moving up, experts say. A study last year on political dynasties in the U.S. Congress found that politicians who held office for more than one term were 40 percent more likely to have a relative in Congress in the future than other members. "Being in power for longer has a causal impact on the chances that someone from the family would access a position of political authority," said Ernesto Dal Bo, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the authors of the study. The reason were not determined. It could be that children of political parents gained name recognition, learned valuable skills or got access to political machinery, Dal Bo said. Stephen Hess, a George Washington University professor who wrote a book on U.S. political dynasties, said ...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070304/ts_nm/usa_politics_dynasties_dc